Doctrine and Covenants 30-37

Doctrine and Covenants 30

Your Mind has Been on the Things of the Earth.

Doctrine and Covenants 30:1-2

How about it? Are we guilty of the same thing?

Doctrine and Covenants 31

Govern Your House (Thomas B. Marsh)

Doctrine and Covenants 31:9, 12

Govern Your House! (Strippings!)

The wife of Thomas B. Marsh, who was then the President of the Twelve Apostles, and Sister Harris concluded they would exchange milk, in order to make a little larger cheese than they otherwise could. To be sure to have justice done, it was agreed that they should not save the strippings, but that the milk and strippings should all go together (the strippings are the part of the milk richest in cream).

Mrs. Harris, it appeared, was faithful to the agreement and carried to Mrs. Marsh the milk and strippings, but Mrs. Marsh, wishing to make some extra good cheese, saved a pint of strippings from each cow and sent Mrs. Harris the milk without the strippings.

Finally it leaked out that Mrs. Marsh had saved strippings, and it became a matter to be settled by the Teachers. They began to examine the matter, and it was proved that Mrs. Marsh had save the strippings…

An appeal was taken from the Teachers to the Bishop, and a regular Church trial was held. President Marsh did not consider that the Bishop had done him and his lady justice, for they (the Bishop’s Court) decided that the strippings were wrongfully saved, and that the woman had violated her covenant.

Marsh immediately took an appeal to the High Council… but the High Council confirmed the Bishop’s decision.

Marsh, not satisfied, took an appeal to the First Presidency of the Church, and Joseph and his Counselors had to sit upon the case, and they approved the decision of the High Council.

This little affair, kicked up a considerable breeze, and Thomas B. Marsh then declared that he would sustain the character of his wife, even if he had to go to hell for it (to which Heber C. Kimball wished him well on his way).

The then President of the Twelve Apostles, the man who should have been the first to do justice and cause reparation to be made for wrong, committed by any member of his family, took that position (JD 3:283-84).

President Gordon B. Hinckley

Pres. Hinckley repeated this story in General Conference and then commented:

“The man who should have settled this little quarrel, but who, rather, pursued it,… literally went through hell for it. He lost his standing in the Church. He lost his testimony of the gospel. For nineteen years he walked in poverty and darkness and bitterness, experiencing illness, and loneliness. He grew old before his time. Finally, like the prodigal son in the parable of the Savior, he recognized his foolishness and painfully made his way to this valley (Salt Lake), and asked Brigham Young to forgive him and permit his re-baptism into the Church.

He had been the first President of the Council of the Twelve, loved, respected, and honored in the days of Kirtland, and the early days of Far West.

Now he asked only that he might be ordained a deacon and become a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord (C.R. April 1984, 111).

Path to Apostasy You that don’t know him, have heard of Thomas B. Marsh, who was formerly the President of the Twelve Apostles, but who apostatized some years ago, in Missouri. He is on his way here, a poor, decrepit, broken down, old man.

He has had a paralytic stroke – one of his arms hangs down. He is coming out here as an object of charity, destitute, without wife, child, or anything else.

He has been an apostate some eighteen years. Most of you know his history…

In meeting with some of the apostates, he said to them, “you don’t know what you are about; if you want to see the fruits of apostasy, look on me…”

Many have said to me, “How is it that a man like you, who understood so much of the revelations of God as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, should fall away?” I told them not to feel to secure, but to take heed lest they also should fall; for I had no scruples in my mind as to the possibility of men falling away.

I can say, in reference to the Quorum of the Twelve, to which I belonged, that I did not consider myself a whit behind any of them, and I suppose that others had the same opinion; but, let no one feel to secure; for, before you think of it, your steps will slide. You will not then think nor feel for a moment as you did before you lost the Spirit of Christ; for when men apostatize, they are left to grovel in the dark.

I have sought diligently to know the Spirit of Christ since I turned my face Zion-ward, and I believe I have obtained it. I have frequently wanted to know how my apostasy began, I have come to the conclusion that I must have lost the Spirit of the Lord out of my heart.

The next question is, “How and when did you lose the “Spirit?”

I became jealous of the Prophet, and then I was double, and overlooked everything that was right, and spent all my time in looking for the evil; and then, when the Devil began to lead me, it was easy for the carnal mind to rise

up, which is anger, jealousy, and wrath. I could feel it within me; I felt angry and wrathful; and the Spirit of the Lord was gone, as the scriptures say, I was blinded, and I thought I saw a beam in brother Joseph’s eye, but it was nothing but a mote, and my own eye was filled with the beam… Thomas B. Marsh (JD vol. 5, 115, 206-7).

Thomas B. Marsh was a native of Massachusetts. He visited Palmyra and received a large printers sheet containing the first sixteen pages from Martin Harris. He believed it to be true and moved his family to Palmyra and joined the church.

Doctrine and Covenants 32

The First Mission Among the Lamanites

Doctrine and Covenants 33

Declare My Gospel v. 8, 9, 10 Open your

mouths!

My Servant Parley P. Pratt

Doctrine and Covenants 32:1

The calling of Parley P. Pratt to accompany Oliver Cowdery and Peter Whitmer on their mission to the Lamanites proved to have a great influence on the Restoration and the gathering of Israel.

In less then one month, 127 individuals were convinced of the truthfulness of the Restoration and were baptized. Not only did this double the total membership of the Church at that time but it also provided a number of the future leaders for the Church.

Ezra Thayre

Whose Word is Quick and Powerful!

Doctrine and Covenants 33:1

“When Hyrum Smith began to speak, every word touched me to the inmost soul. I thought every word was pointed to me. God punished me and riveted me to the spot. I could not help myself. The tears rolled down my cheeks, I was very proud and stubborn. There were many there who knew me, I dare not look up. I sat until I recovered myself before I dare look up. They sung some hymns and that filled me with the Spirit. When Hyrum got through, he picked up a book and said, ‘here is the Book of Mormon.’

I said let me see it. I then opened the book and I received a shock with such exquisite joy that no pen can write and no tongue can express. I shut the book and said, what is the price of it? ‘Fourteen shillings’ was the reply. I said, I’ll take the book.

I opened it again, and if felt a double portion of the Spirit, that I did not know whether I was in the world or not. I felt as though I was truly in heaven. Martin Harris rushed to me to tell me that the book was true. I told him that he need not tell me that, for I knew that it is true as well as he” (Cook, Revelations, 47-48).

Doctrine and Covenants 34

A Revelation to Orson Pratt

Doctrine and Covenants 35

I Have Prepared Thee for a Greater Work

Orson PrattDoctrine and Covenants 34

Orson was the younger brother of Parley P. Pratt. Both were original members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Orson wrote:

“From the age of ten to nineteen I saw much of the world, and was tossed about without any permanent abiding place; but through the grace of God, I was kept from many of the evils to which young people are exposed; the early impression of morality and religion, instilled into my mind by my parents, always remained with me; and I often felt a great anxiety to be prepared for a future state; but never commenced, in real earnest, to seek after the Lord, until the autumn of 1829.

I than began to pray very fervently, repenting of every sin. In the silent shades of night, while others were slumbering upon their pillows, I often retired to some secret place in the lonely fields or solitary wilderness, and bowed before the Lord, and prayed for hours with a broken heart and contrite spirit; this was my comfort and delight.

The greatest desire of my heart was for the Lord to manifest his will concerning me. I continued to pray in this fervent manner until September 1830, at which time two elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, came into the neighborhood, one of which was my brother Parley. They held several meetings which I attended.

Orson was baptized September 19th, 1830 on his 19th birthday (as cited in Watson, Orson Pratt Journals, 8-9).

D&C 35:14 They Shall Fight Manfully For Me!In June 1835 Elders David W. Patten, Wilford Woodruff, and Warren Parrish were together preaching the gospel in Tennessee. A local sheriff arrested them on false pretenses at the urging of a Methodist priest. A mock trial was held in which the defendants were not allowed to say a word in their own behalf. They were pronounced guilty. “Brother Patten, being filled with the Holy Ghost, arose to his feet, and by the power of God bound them fast to their seats while he addressed them. He rebuked them sharply for their wicked and unjust proceedings. Brother Parrish afterwards said, ‘My hair stood up straight on my head, for I expected to be killed.’ When Patton closed, the Judge addressed him, saying, ‘You must be armed with concealed weapons, or you would not treat an armed court as you have this.’ Patten replied, ‘I am armed with weapons you know not of, and my weapons are the Holy Priesthood and the power of God. God is my friend, and he permits you to exercise all the power you have, and he bestows on me all the power I have,” (Jenson, LDS biographical Encyclopedia, 1:78).

Saints in the area paid the court costs, and the missionaries were set free. That evening a heavenly messenger appeared to Elder Patten and warned him that the mob at the courthouse was in a rage because their prisoners had been freed. These brethren escaped unharmed by heeding this angelic warning.

Doctrine and Covenants 36

Revelation to Edward Partridge

Doctrine and Covenants 37

Ye Shall Go to Ohio

Sidney Rigdon, Frederick G. Williams, Edward Partridge, etc.

The Lord surely knew at the time that Elder Pratt was called to this missionary journey so that he could influence his companions to stop in the Kirtland area.

The hand of the Lord is easily discerned in the unusual collection of truth seekers gathered in that area.

The same God that placed the star in a precise orbit millennia before it appeared over Bethlehem in celebration of the birth of the Babe, observed Elder Neal A Maxwell, “has given at least equal attention to placement of each of us in precise human orbits so that we may, if we will, illuminate the landscape of our individual lives, so that our light may not only lead others but warm them as well” (That My Family Should Partake, 86).

The remarkable collection of men and women in and around Kirtland, like those in upstate New York, defies any thought of chance.

The situation parallels that of the group of men assembled by the hand of the Lord to give birth to this nation.

Doctrine and Covenants 37:3

They should assemble at the Ohio!

Why?

1. Some of the most important events of this dispensation would take place.

2. Construction of a temple and the subsequent appearance of Christ.

3. Appearance of Moses, Elias, and Elijah to restore keys, powers, and majesties they held when on the earth.

4. Saints would be “endowed with power from on high” (D&C 38:32).

5. Almost half of the revelations in the Doctrine & Covenants were given in Ohio.

6. It was here that the School of the Prophets was formed.

7. Lectures of faith were given.

8. Most of the work on the Joseph Smith Translation was completed.

9. The Abraham papyrus was purchased.

10. The Law of Consecration was revealed.

No period in the history of the Church equals the Ohio era for the outpouring of divine knowledge!